a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Game 81 – Back on Track or the Clips are THAT Bad?

I was glad to see some changes. Harp got the start over the injured CJ and definitely brought some hustle and energy. AK looked more like himself rather than the Ghost of AK Past and very encouragingly got to the line 10 times. Sap had a monster game on both ends of the floor, including 19 & 11, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and as many offensive rebounds as the Clips had total (7). DWill was 3-11, but finished with 17 & 9 thanks to 12 trips to the line. Boozer put in 20 & 13, but per his MO was completely MIA on defense. Speaking of MIA, Ronnie B had his second no-show in a row despite playing 29 minutes. And Memo left the game with a strained hammy that hopefully will not require prolonged months of seeing if it gets better and/or eventual surgery.

Although the Jazz got the win, it should be noted that they allowed the Clips to get back into the game and cut a 20-point lead to 10 at the start of the 4th. Not to mention DeAndre Jordan had about 26 dunks.

Will the win and team concept carry over to tomorrow? Only a few more hours til we find out.

P.S. Spencer at Utah Jazz Blog raises a good and extremely disturbing point about DWill in his recap of the GS game:

Deron Williams had 26-14 and 20 of his 40 minutes complaining to the referees.

Rhetorical Questions here, is Deron turning into the type of player we hate (D-wade, Kobe, McGrady, Lebron) complaining after ever call. And does he still have the same chip on his shoulder that he did last year before he signed his max deal worth alot. And is Deron the type of player that will leave a bad situation or start calling guys out when things aren’t going well. By the way, Deron you went to the line 14 times last night and the guy you were guarding had 38-7-9. Please focus.

The complaining is something I’ve noticed lately too, and honestly, it makes me cringe to see him doing that. I understand that players get frustrated if they don’t get the call, or don’t get calls, but you’re not going to get the respect of the refs by complaining all the time, and as a fan you want to see your guys just continue to play while hopefully using that as motivation.